February 2010
Using Nintex Workflow to drive business gains
In the last 2 years we have seen many of our clients change their Information Technology investment process dramatically. Now, more than ever, they have been cutting spending, reducing costs, improving efficiency, and scrutinising the return on any IT investment.
The Consulting Team have been engaged in a whole range of projects over this time to optimise and transform business processes by designing and deploying solutions that leverage technology. Many businesses recognise that this is an area where they have room to improve, and where they can save significant costs through better utilisation of existing infrastructure and systems.
Microsoft's SharePoint platform is becoming increasingly common and its out-of-the-box workflows are limited in functionality. SharePoint Designer, which is now a free product, can be used to create custom workflows but it is not a product that a typical business user can be expected to understand as users require some in-depth knowledge of the product, and process workflows can be extremely complicated to design.
In order to create substantial efficiency gains, we have found that putting a toolset in the hands of the actual users is the best way to drive rapid change and we have been using Nintex Workflow 2007 for such a purpose.
Nintex Workflow is a third party add-on solution to Microsoft's SharePoint platform which provides a browser based GUI workflow editor. Nintex Workflow combines the best features of SharePoint out-of-the-box workflows and the extensive flexibility of SharePoint Designer, whilst keeping it simple with a nice, clean drag and drop type interface.
Nintex Workflow provides a straightforward set of tools which enable a user to create simple solutions for many complex business workflows. There are some very powerful logic tools, and Provoke have used Nintex Workflows to design and deploy some extremely sophisticated process automation solutions to a number of high-profile New Zealand businesses, including some Government agencies.
Nintex Workflow includes a wide range of pre-defined and customisable actions which make designing workflows even easier. Branching, loops, and provision of state machines (multi-branching) are all common elements to any workflow and are easily created and utilised by non-technical users.
As almost every item or document workflow requires some sort of approval and data request, and Nintex Workflow provides a simple drag and drop approval component that is fully integrated with SharePoint, Active Directory, Exchange Server and other web services.
Nintex Workflow is not restricted to a technical user base, and is very intuitive to use. A Knowledge Worker, Business Analyst or Project Manager could easily create workflows with little training, and without having to write or understand a single line of code. A typical deployment involves the creation of a detailed specification that Provoke use to configure and deploy the entire workflow solution into a client environment.
The process that we follow provides our clients with a detailed artefact that can be used to design and develop future workflows and we have also developed a number of training sessions and user guides which provide a knowledge base for clients to create their own complex workflows.
There are over 20 predefined workflow templates with Nintex Workflow, such as expense claims, leave approval, and document approval, which can all be customised to meet the specific needs of a business.
This can give any organisation a number of quick wins with automation of processes, time/cost savings, and a tracking system for many menial time intensive tasks. We have found that once a business begins using the workflow engine, they quickly identify a whole range of tasks that can be automated, and that can save both time and money across an entire enterprise.
Aaron Sew Hoy, Strategic Consultant
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